Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB Edition is a winner for power users

It's not this simple. There is a level of hardware and software support that Windows enjoys because of it's market share that other desktop operating systems simply do not have.
Click to expand...

This is the Windows forum so I'm not going to harp on about this, but we've been over this before in other threads. Just because your product comes from a large multinational corporation doesn't in any way indicate that software support is going to be better if you have an issue. In terms of hardware support, as I've stated in the past, I've actually had more driver issues running Windows than any other OS out there.

Your issue is the hardware you've attempted to run Linux on is very niche and therefore is guaranteed to have compatibility issues with any other OS - It's comparable to building a Hackintosh.
 
heatlesssun said:
This I don't get. What isn't Microsoft saying about data collection that others are?
Click to expand...

They're not saying much, that's my problem with it, other than nondescriptive statements and "we cannot turn it off" (which is utter BS). My issue is that despite turning off every communicative option (using the sliders and settings they provide), the OS still communicates and that's a deal breaker. It shouldn't do anything. I want a desktop OS, not a smart phone. I have a smart phone to use as a smart phone; I don't want my desktop functioning as a smart phone or doing things my smart phone does. I want a desktop OS to be a desktop OS and run apps and games and that's it. The only communication between my OS and its creator should be when I ask if there's any updates available. I consider Steve Gibson to be a bit of a blowhard but in this regard he's absolutely right; a desktop OS should be a desktop OS, not a catch-all solution that does everything even when you don't want it to and communicates repeatedly for no reason at an idle desktop with no user interaction.

The issue is, the bloody thing communicates frequently. They say nothing about it other than "it's necessary". Sorry, I don't buy that. Crash reports in Win 7 and prior did not automatically communicate every so often sitting at the desktop idle; they communicated when a crash took place and I allowed it to send a crash report. (Which I never did, but that's beside the point.) The OS talks too much, period. Even when I turn off all the sliders and opt out of everything and then go as far as using GP to disable things and using CMD or PS to remove things or disable things AND run an app after the fact (O&O ShutUp 10) to further make the damn thing shut up...it still communicates! That is utter nonsense! No means no! What is this, MS - some weak law defense that no doesn't really mean no all the time or something?

heatlesssun said:
Indeed with all of the "spyware" turned on it's pretty obvious that for things work the way they do that tons of data collection, aggregation and sharing must be going on. How would Cortana know the mobile phone number of my contacts, across multiple devices, and send text messages by name using voice and routing the message through my phone? With like no setup except a few in Cortana when using my Microsoft Account?
Click to expand...

And that's fine for you; you want your desktop OS to function like a smart phone - I get that. I don't, and a lot of other people don't either. If you want to allow it to communicate and collect your data to offer you things other versions of Windows could not, that's fine. However, pigeonholing every other user into having the same data collection despite not wanting those features is not acceptable. This (to me) is 8 all over again. They forced everyone into having a touchscreen interface even if they didn't have touchscreens; when people complained, they reverted ever so slightly enough to partially help people who wanted the old OS functionality with a desktop and a Start menu (using the facade of a Start button icon that did not accomplish the same thing that it did since the Start menu was put in 95). Now you have an OS where everyone is collecting and submitting data despite the fact that people are opting out of it. The privacy sliders are just another facade.

I'm curious to see whether using GP to disable telemetry in 10 Ent actually works; I may play around with that at home later in a VM and see what Fiddler says about that.
 
Last edited:
OP, thanks for this thread, I've been using LTSB for a while and it's great. I've configured it as tightly as possible, and now when I leave Fiddler open there is 0 background activity.

One small FYI, that reddit thread is otherwise helpful, but wrong on this part:

Open up the Group Policy Editor by launching gpedit.msc as an administrator. Go through Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Data Collection and Preview Builds. Double click Telemetry, hit Disabled, then apply. NOTE: This only truly works in the Enterprise edition, but the final step provides a decent enough workaround for Pro users.
Click to expand...

It's unintuitive, but this setting in gpedit does NOT do what you think it does. By setting this key to "Disabled" you allow each user account to make their own setting, and they can choose a level between 1 (Basic) and 3 (Full).

In order to get the level we want (0 - Off), you need to set this key to "Enabled" and then in the drop-down box that appears on the left of the screen, set the integer value to 0. Counter-intuitive? Yes. Setting the key to "Enabled" removes the choice from individual user accounts, and then setting the level to 0 disables Telemetry system-wide.
 
Have you installed the new November Threshold Update? Please tell me it didnt install all the metro junk!
 
chaikovski2002 said:
Please tell me it didnt install all the metro junk!
Click to expand...

I don't think anything has changed with this in 1511 from a clean install. There are a number of scripts out there to remove them. However there are three that I would recommend keeping. Photos, Alarms and possibly Maps. Photos is actually much better than the old Windows Photo Viewer, there was never an equivalent to Alarms prior to Windows 8 and it's a handy stopwatch/timer/clock app and Maps is basically a Google Earth and works offline and supports GPS.
 
InorganicMatter said:
One small FYI, that reddit thread is otherwise helpful, but wrong on this part:

It's unintuitive, but this setting in gpedit does NOT do what you think it does. By setting this key to "Disabled" you allow each user account to make their own setting, and they can choose a level between 1 (Basic) and 3 (Full).

In order to get the level we want (0 - Off), you need to set this key to "Enabled" and then in the drop-down box that appears on the left of the screen, set the integer value to 0. Counter-intuitive? Yes. Setting the key to "Enabled" removes the choice from individual user accounts, and then setting the level to 0 disables Telemetry system-wide.
Click to expand...

THANK YOU!!! They sure made this hard to find, and I couldn't find documentation anywhere on how to do it. It's baffling that they don't give at least users of Professional Edition the choice of OFF in the regular dropdown.

wPkOjjG.png
 
Last edited:
^ addendum. So I guess whether or not telemetry-off was/wasn't functional pre-1511 doesn't matter, just going to update to 1511, since MS swears off means off now.

The November update also enables Windows 10 Enterprise users whose PCs are on the Long Term Servicing Branch to completely turn off the telemetry-gathering technology in Windows 10, though Microsoft officials note that doing so means the operating system will basically be no longer connected to the cloud.
Click to expand...

"the OS will no be longer connected to the cloud" - oh the humanity!
 
...the operating system will basically be no longer connected to the cloud.
Click to expand...

Why anyone including Microsoft would consider this a negative is just beyond my ability to fathom any comprehension from. :D

Now if I only had an MSDN account anymore it would matter, but since I retired from the computer industry all those old tools like MSDN and Technet are just out of my reach anymore. Damn all those scumbucket eBay and craigslist scammers for ruining Technet because it was a great deal for a long time. :(
 
It's good to hear but given their track record I wonder how long this "off means off" will last. :eek:
 
zero2dash said:
It's good to hear but given their track record I wonder how long this "off means off" will last. :eek:
Click to expand...

well, that's why you audit with Fiddler every so often. trust but verify.

And I doubt MS wants lawsuits from big enterprise after they put it in writing that telemetry can be disabled now.
 
From my findings, as soon as an Enterprise PC is connected to a domain all the telemetry bullshit is disabled anyway, no live tiles in the start menu, no 'default apps'.
 
It still boggles me how much people are willing to do and how many hoops they're willing to jump through (some are flaming, obviously) just to run Windows 10 when it brings nothing truly unique or consequential to the operating system market - this is just my opinion, just like the same opinions that everyone else has. I just can't comprehend why people bother with it: I've seen a few folks point out certain aspects of Windows 10 they consider to be useful but of course those aspects have probably been in play for many years now in various forms by various third party software developers for Windows itself - Microsoft just took note of a lot of them and added the same capabilities to Windows 8/8.1 and now 10 as they felt necessary based on consumer input. Aside from DirectX 12 (WHERE ARE THE GAMES?!?!?!) there's hardly anything in Windows 10 that Windows 7 isn't fully capable of providing to end users and even most corporate situations but it's a moot point now.

Make no mistake: Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 were and still are the largest beta software testing projects ever undertaken and Windows 10 itself will perpetually be a beta OS as far as I'm concerned because that's Microsoft's stated purpose: no more major OS releases, Windows 10 is it, it's rolling updates and patches from July 2015 onward and I find that to be haphazard at best and extraordinarily short sighted and problematic on the worst end.

But, people will do what people will do I suppose. I'd quote something George Carlin said about people long ago but it would fall on too many blind eyes. ;)
 
Tiberian said:
It still boggles me how much people are willing to do and how many hoops they're willing to jump through (some are flaming, obviously) just to run Windows 10 when it brings nothing truly unique or consequential to the operating system market - this is just my opinion, just like the same opinions that everyone else has. I just can't comprehend why people bother with it: I've seen a few folks point out certain aspects of Windows 10 they consider to be useful but of course those aspects have probably been in play for many years now in various forms by various third party software developers for Windows itself - Microsoft just took note of a lot of them and added the same capabilities to Windows 8/8.1 and now 10 as they felt necessary based on consumer input. Aside from DirectX 12 (WHERE ARE THE GAMES?!?!?!) there's hardly anything in Windows 10 that Windows 7 isn't fully capable of providing to end users and even most corporate situations but it's a moot point now.

Make no mistake: Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 were and still are the largest beta software testing projects ever undertaken and Windows 10 itself will perpetually be a beta OS as far as I'm concerned because that's Microsoft's stated purpose: no more major OS releases, Windows 10 is it, it's rolling updates and patches from July 2015 onward and I find that to be haphazard at best and extraordinarily short sighted and problematic on the worst end.

But, people will do what people will do I suppose. I'd quote something George Carlin said about people long ago but it would fall on too many blind eyes. ;)
Click to expand...

So what do you do, run Windows 7 with updates disabled? Because Microsoft's latest trick is to force the update to 10.

And I'm sorry, but Windows 8/8/1 was a rubbish, cobbled together mishmash of desktop/tablet OS. Granted Windows 10 is also, but it's no where near as bad as Windows 8/8.1 was.
 
I run Windows 7 Professional and I have updates set for "Check for them but don't install them" as expected. Upon checking manually for updates I then verify their intended design purpose against their corresponding Knowledge Base articles and if they're related to Windows 10 in any respect whether it's the simple upgrade tool they pushed on unsuspecting folk earlier this year or anything related to retroactive telemetry or the Windows CEIP (Customer Experience Improvement Program) then it simply gets hidden - I currently have oh about 27 updates total that are hidden and obviously not installed. I also have any and all scheduled tasks related to the CEIP or telemetry deleted - I don't just disable them since they have zero reason to exist in my opinion, they are deleted outright never to be seen again.

Everything else gets a pass based on research and not being related to those three aspects which is exactly what and only what should be necessary to Windows 7 functioning properly (and securely but computer security is an impossible task in today's world - it's the digital equivalent of sweeping a dirt floor).

I just have zero use for Windows 10 and I suspect neither does anyone else coming from Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 (aside from disliking the Metro/Modern UI on 8/8.1 but that's my personal bitch about it). I never used it, never supported it, and I do the same thing for Windows 10 - I don't recommend it to anyone and I don't support it. Sure it costs me a few bucks of income here and there but, the long time reliable clients that I work with have done their own research and testing and found Windows 10 to simply not be of any use to them either and I didn't have to say a damned word about it except "You made a good decision" to those that have chosen to avoid it at all costs - even in spite of it being 'free' from actual out of pocket monetary expense.

If you want to use it, that's entirely your choice, granted, and as long as you go in well informed about it and what Microsoft is doing now and intends to do in the future, so be it and good luck to you/whoever.
 
Tiberian said:
It still boggles me how much people are willing to do and how many hoops they're willing to jump through (some are flaming, obviously) just to run Windows 10 when it brings nothing truly unique or consequential to the operating system market - this is just my opinion, just like the same opinions that everyone else has. I just can't comprehend why people bother with it: I've seen a few folks point out certain aspects of Windows 10 they consider to be useful but of course those aspects have probably been in play for many years now in various forms by various third party software developers for Windows itself - Microsoft just took note of a lot of them and added the same capabilities to Windows 8/8.1 and now 10 as they felt necessary based on consumer input.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree. But Windows is still by far the dominant desktop operating system by market share and the newest version always attracts interest because of that. But if other alternatives suit folks better they should use them instead of fighting through something they don't like or doesn't suit them.

Tiberian said:
Aside from DirectX 12 (WHERE ARE THE GAMES?!?!?!) there's hardly anything in Windows 10 that Windows 7 isn't fully capable of providing to end users and even most corporate situations but it's a moot point now.
Click to expand...

If one actually uses the stuff that is there in 10, it's significantly different than 7. I do understand in a place like this those things aren't desired by many, but for those that do use them some of it's flat out slick. Windows Hello. On paper it's very much so what. In person, it's like why hasn't anyone gotten this to work this well before?

Tiberian said:
Make no mistake: Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 were and still are the largest beta software testing projects ever undertaken and Windows 10 itself will perpetually be a beta OS as far as I'm concerned because that's Microsoft's stated purpose: no more major OS releases, Windows 10 is it, it's rolling updates and patches from July 2015 onward and I find that to be haphazard at best and extraordinarily short sighted and problematic on the worst end.
Click to expand...

Everything is beta. There's still flaws in Windows 7 that are getting patched 6 years later. I'm not really sure how you get past constant beta unless you lock down features for years and to years of testing which only bug fixes. And then you still do catch them all.

Tiberian said:
But, people will do what people will do I suppose. I'd quote something George Carlin said about people long ago but it would fall on too many blind eyes. ;)
Click to expand...

The problem here is Windows' market share which leads to its best hardware and software support. If you wanted to play Fallout 4 (which is running great on my aging gaming desktop and even well on a Surface Book to my surprise). People want the benefits of Windows' market share but don't want Windows. Microsoft has actually made references to this problem.
 
Tiberian said:
I run Windows 7 Professional and I have updates set for "Check for them but don't install them" as expected. Upon checking manually for updates I then verify their intended design purpose against their corresponding Knowledge Base articles and if they're related to Windows 10 in any respect whether it's the simple upgrade tool they pushed on unsuspecting folk earlier this year or anything related to retroactive telemetry or the Windows CEIP (Customer Experience Improvement Program) then it simply gets hidden - I currently have oh about 27 updates total that are hidden and obviously not installed. I also have any and all scheduled tasks related to the CEIP or telemetry deleted - I don't just disable them since they have zero reason to exist in my opinion, they are deleted outright never to be seen again.

Everything else gets a pass based on research and not being related to those three aspects which is exactly what and only what should be necessary to Windows 7 functioning properly (and securely but computer security is an impossible task in today's world - it's the digital equivalent of sweeping a dirt floor).

I just have zero use for Windows 10 and I suspect neither does anyone else coming from Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 (aside from disliking the Metro/Modern UI on 8/8.1 but that's my personal bitch about it). I never used it, never supported it, and I do the same thing for Windows 10 - I don't recommend it to anyone and I don't support it. Sure it costs me a few bucks of income here and there but, the long time reliable clients that I work with have done their own research and testing and found Windows 10 to simply not be of any use to them either and I didn't have to say a damned word about it except "You made a good decision" to those that have chosen to avoid it at all costs - even in spite of it being 'free' from actual out of pocket monetary expense.

If you want to use it, that's entirely your choice, granted, and as long as you go in well informed about it and what Microsoft is doing now and intends to do in the future, so be it and good luck to you/whoever.
Click to expand...

Geezus.

It's easier to run Linux than to research each and every update before installing it.

Windows 10 isn't that bad.
 
Interesting stuff here. Windows for my games, OSX for everything else. They can track my game usage.. i don't care.
 
I(illa Bee said:
Interesting stuff here. Windows for my games, OSX for everything else. They can track my game usage.. i don't care.
Click to expand...

Windows for games, Linux for everything else here.

Apart from anything, it beats any Windows based anti virus/anti malware package out there...
 
chaikovski2002 said:
Have you installed the new November Threshold Update? Please tell me it didnt install all the metro junk!
Click to expand...

It won't install all the metro stuff, no. The update still isn't showing up for me though, I'll give it a few more days (yes I have the Defer Upgrades unchecked). Not a biggie, there's nothing new worth talking about in the November update anyway, was more just curious to see what changed in telemetry settings (if anything), now that MS swears you can turn it off in Enterprise as of this version.
 
The update failed for me, now I can't see it at all.

The fact that it failed doesn't really surprise me though....
 
Is this the "best" version to run? I just downloaded from tech-net and it doesn't include the November update. I'm about to put it on a vm now.
 
trick0502 said:
Is this the "best" version to run? I just downloaded from tech-net and it doesn't include the November update. I'm about to put it on a vm now.
Click to expand...

The base media remains 10240, part of the point of LTSB. You'll have to try to check for the 1151 after installation, with the Defer Upgrades option unchecked. And even then it may still not appear due to whatever random/staggered rollout scheme is happening.
 
I'm running the LTSB version now and it's lean and fast. Not a fan of all the Metro crap, store, IE etc so this works out great. I just need a lean system that flies through my games and does it's job. So far I've run 10 Pro, Enterprise and now Enterprise LTSB and the LTSB is the best for me anyways.
 
Is there even a way for a home user to license/activate the enterprise LTSB version?
 
Milena said:
Is there even a way for a home user to license/activate the enterprise LTSB version?
Click to expand...

No, because it's not a consumer level OS and unless you have an MSDN account (you personally) or you're authorized to use it because of some employment licensing then anyone outside of those two circumstances is pretty much pirating that particular version which is growing in popularity. Especially now with the "Threshold 2" update that can supposedly allow for all data collection/telemetry to be totally disabled - but that still remains to be seen - you can expect to see it mentioned even more.
 
If you buy a few hundred licenses of it as a volume license customer, yes.

If you just want to put one copy of it on your gaming rig, no.
 
A MSDN sub is like $900/year if you get it with the cheapest Visual Studio package. Not sure if that gives access to this version. I think in the past you were given multiple keys for the current Windows version and they didn't expire. Not sure they changed the rules.

If a MSDN sub gives 5-6 keys or so that have no expiration date it might be possible to team up with a few people and buy a sub to have a semi-legit Enterprise edition of Windows 10. Not sure if that works, just an idea.
 
Last edited:
Milena said:
A MSDN sub is like $900/year if you get it with the cheapest Visual Studio package. Not sure if that gives access to this version. I think in the past you were given multiple keys for the current Windows version and they didn't expire. Not sure they changed the rules.

If a MSDN sub gives 5-6 keys or so that have no expiration date it might be possible to team up with a few people and buy a sub to have a semi-legit Enterprise edition of Windows 10. Not sure if that works, just an idea.
Click to expand...

Trouble is there's no semi-legit, you'd still be in a situation of breaking TOS by sharing MSDN keys. I suspect the enthusiast or power user that just wants a no-nonsense Windows 10 on his gaming or work rig will therefore either resort to bootlegging LTSB, or buy a key for $40-$50 from one of those cheap key sites. Mind you many of these people would happily throw their money at MS instead If simply provided the legal option.

I really wish MS would've just made Windows 10 Pro a $99 upgrade and had it include all the fine grain control and telemetry opt-outs of Enterprise/LTSB, and then call the "Free" upgrade version - with all the forced telemetry and marketing/cloud features MS is trying to push - simply "Windows 10". That way, all the people that swear they don't mind MS up their ass because its "no different than what Google / Apple / Facebook are doing" have their free upgrade, and Pro users simply paid to forego it and have more control over their OS - both groups are happy.
 
Last edited:
yeah LTSB seems the way to go but sadly the only way to use that version is piracy, what on earth have microsoft done.

Also its the consumer version with the messed up UI not LTSB.
 
DPI said:
Trouble is there's no semi-legit, you'd still be in a situation of breaking TOS by sharing MSDN keys in order to run the LTSB edition.
Click to expand...

Not sure how sharing fits into it. MSDN is allocated at the individual level. Unless you give away keys to others there is no sharing. But technically you're not supposed to run MSDN copies of software for production use. Sure. But technically that does violate the TOS.

DPI said:
So I suspect that many people will either resort to bootlegging, or buying a key for $40-$50 from one of those cheap key sites.[/url]
Click to expand...

And when they don't get updates to the latest and great version they'll go crazy over that. This is by no means something that someone that isn't very technical should even touch.

DPI said:
Really wish MS would've just made Windows 10 Pro a $99 upgrade and had it include all the fine grain control and telemetry opt-outs of Enterprise/LTSB, and then called the "Free" upgrade version with forced telemetry and marketing features simply "Windows 10". That way all the people that say they don't mind MS up their ass because its "no different than what Google / Apple / Facebook does" have their free upgrade, and Pro users have their paid one - both groups are happy.
Click to expand...

Sounds good on paper until the reality would be why that version does this or doesn't do that and vice versa for the other.
 
chrcoluk said:
yeah LTSB seems the way to go but sadly the only way to use that version is piracy, what on earth have microsoft done.
Click to expand...

What does the average computer user want? Fine control of updates probably isn't on that list. At this point Windows probably does try to do too many things for too many people but that's also one of its strengths.
 
PliotronX said:
Which is actually a bonus for enterprise. Fun times ahead when a forced UI update black screens hundreds of PCs. Making the entire business ecosystem a beta test is not a good idea.
Click to expand...

"I found your lack of faith disturbing" -Lord Nadella

:D
 
heatlesssun said:
What does the average computer user want? Fine control of updates probably isn't on that list. At this point Windows probably does try to do too many things for too many people but that's also one of its strengths.
Click to expand...

Your faith, on the other hand, is welcomed. -Lord Nadella ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top